ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An East Side community association is getting a $50,000 state grant for park upgrades.
State Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton, announced the funding Tuesday.
It's going to the Midway Manor Community Association, from American Rescue Plan Act funds, Miller said.
David Tagg, board president of Midway Manor, said the money will be used to update playground equipment and a snack stand; buy new uniforms and sports equipment for youth players; and complete landscaping around the veterans’ garden and flagpole.
Word of the funding comes a day before the association hosts its Neighbor to Neighbor: Business and Organization Fair, from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Midway Manor is behind the Giant shopping center on Pennsylvania Avenue and is bordered by Sherman Street, Columbia Street, Club Avenue and Union Boulevard.
The fair will be held at the Meals on Wheels parking lot at 1302 N. Sherman St. The association is also holding a food drive with Meals on Wheels as part of the festivities.
Last year, fair attendees donated enough non-perishable food items to fill a 14-foot truck. That collection benefited the Whitehall Coplay Hunger Initiative.
This year's food drive will benefit the nonprofit ProJeCt of Easton.
“It’s a nice way for us to do a ‘helping hour’ — formerly a happy hour of networking,” said Dina Kovats-Bernat, director of development and communications for Meals on Wheels.
“During COVID, we started working with food pantries. Volunteers would go to the various food pantries and pick up additional food for our clients and deliver it. This emerged from that, and then we decided to start doing a food drive that goes towards our clients. We replenish the food pantries’ supplies because they're so generous with us.”
“We’re a working-class community, we have all these great people with their own businesses right here. How can we support them, support each other? And this is the result of that.”Alice Romberger
Midway Manor teamed up with Meals on Wheels last year on Meals on Wheels' annual food drive, said Alice Romberger, Midway’s Neighbor to Neighbor fair organizer.
“We’re a working-class community," Romberger said. "We have all these great people with their own businesses right here. How can we support them, support each other? And this is the result of that.”
Businesses and organizations scheduled to attend the fair include Action Wheels, the Allentown Public Library, Care Patrol, Kiwanis of Allentown Northeast, Oak Street Health, Star Community Health, entrepreneur and professional networking specialist TSD Enterprises, and Friends of Pete networking group, as well as individual local entrepreneurs from Scentsy and Creation Station, a personalized gift entity.
Meals on Wheels arranged for free beer and wine samples from Sherman Street Beer Company, Tolino Winery, and Bar H, organizers said.
Meals on Wheels will accept the donations, and ProJeCt Easton will then organize and disseminate it to their community.
